Griquas (fourth, 15), Blue Bulls (fifth, 13) and Free State Cheetahs (sixth, 12) appear to be in a sudden-death shoot-out for the fourth play-off spot.

Obviously anything can happen in the next few rounds, but the latter three are the teams playing catch-up in a competition where the margin for error is virtually zero.

Following a slot start (three defeats) and a great mid-season recovery (three wins) Griquas was on the wrong of a 45-21 hiding handed out by WP.

"We played well for three weeks, but we came back to earth with a bang," is how the coach, Human, described his team's reality check.

While they encounter a WP team in good form, they have to move on and focus on another test against a team even more desperate than they are.

"We are in a situation where we have to beat the Cheetahs if we want to have any hope of reaching the semifinals," Human told this website, adding: "[But] they are in the same situation, they also have to win to remain alive in the play-off race.

"It is obviously a crucial game for both teams.

"Because there are so few games remaining [just three rounds] the pressure builds every week.

"The teams who handle that pressure the best will make it [into the play-offs]."

He admitted that while his team played good rugby at times, the players were also hesitant last week - especially in the first half.

"Those two intercept tries put us on the back foot and meant we had to play catch-up ... which made it very tough for us," Human said of his team's faltering first-half performance.

"At times we did some great things.

"However, most of their tries were soft tries ... two intercept tries and two quick-tap tries. The try WP scored from the maul was a great try, we always knew they are a good mauling team.

"We just have to put this behind us and focus on the game against Free State that awaits us [this coming] Saturday."

Human felt that with Griquas and Cheetahs knowing each other well, desire may well be the decisive factor.